The programmable logic controller (PLC) was invented decades ago to replace sequential relay circuits for machine control. Although initially intended for the automobile industry, PLC's are now ubiquitous in industrial settings. Almost any industrial process that needs some type of electrical control has a need for a PLC in order to maximize efficiency, save money, and save time. In order to use a PLC, the PLC user accesses a control program, usually via software, in order to obtain desired goals.
Training on specific PLC equipment is often done only at the time when new PLC equipment is initially selected. Users will subsequently use the equipment for a number of years, but when a problem arises the user will often have forgotten the material learned years before. The user will have no convenient way of relearning or refreshing his or her memory with regard to particular material which was learned years earlier and which is now needed. An adequate and convenient system and method for PLC training on demand has thusfar not been invented, nor has internet and hyperlink technology been adequately exploited for this purpose.
Various techniques have been developed for obtaining customer service via the internet. For example, Dezonno et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,394) teach a system and method for customers to view products at a business web site, wherein the customer can activate an online “call me” button; the customer is then prompted for contact information, and the contact information is used to set up a telephone call to the customer. The process of entering contact information is time-consuming for the user, and there is the additional problem that the customer service representative will not know what to tell the customer until the customer explains why he activated the “call me” button.
Another example of a technique for obtaining customer service via the internet is Foladare et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,547), according to which a customer visiting a business web site can request a telephone call and data communications link with a customer service representative, and then the customer's terminal will be notified when a customer service representative is available so that the customer can choose whether to proceed with setting up the telephone call and data communications link. Again, this type of system would be unnecessarily time-consuming in the context of PLC training, because a customer according to Foladare must either wait while doing nothing, or proceed to deal with other distracting matters and issues, until a customer service representative is available to address the issues that prompted the customer to seek help.
Another patent related to the present invention is Hitchcock et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,781) which teaches how to train a user on a variety of computer software applications while the user is situated at the user's work station. According to Hitchcock, a user's proficiency level is diagnosed, and then the user is trained in a way that is tailored to the user's proficiency level, by providing the user access to a plurality of training software programs. Again, this is an inefficient approach in the context of PLC training, wherein a user would be wasting a great deal of time by being repeatedly subjected to diagnostic tests in order that the user be provided with the correct training. Moreover, the system of Hitchcock for teaching a user how to use computer software does not allow the user to obtain training by communicating directly with a central location maintained by the producers of the computer software, and therefore the producers of the computer software cannot easily monitor the use of their training materials or update them accordingly.